


Going back.

by Ally_Kats



Category: Subnautica (Video Game)
Genre: Alterra was serious about that 1 trillion credit debt., I was listening to subnautica stuff while writing this, I'm Bad At Titles, Listening to logs and discovering things about Alterra, Missing being around humans, One Shot, Other, Spoilers, What happens after cannon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 07:57:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19970638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ally_Kats/pseuds/Ally_Kats
Summary: (Takes place almost directly after Subnautica ends.)It's over, finally. No more ocean planet, no more dead coworkers, no more leviathans. So why is it so difficult to actually get a company representative on the phone?





	Going back.

**Author's Note:**

> I was watching a lot of play-throughs/reaction videos of Subnautica and I wanted to try my hand at this.

"Permission to land will be granted after you have settled your outstanding balance of: 1 trillion credits." the machine repeated.

Rylie rubbed his forehead, putting his elbows on the panel in front of him. After surviving almost a month on an alien world alone, who thought it would be the Alterran fees that stopped him from coming home?

He was currently orbiting the Alterran planet, stuck in the atmosphere looking down at the brown and blue planet. He was so close to home, to actual people! But his PDA wouldn't even allow him to connect to anyone. This was absolutely ridiculous.

He tried typing in the docking request again. _I am Rylie Robinson of the Aurora. I am the last survivor of the crash on planet 4546B. I have information on the rest of the crew and the cause of it. Please respond._  
  
The message sent and Rylie leaned back, closing his eyes. He had to hope that it would get to someone. That someone would care and call back for him. Just hope-

"Permission to land will be granted after you have settled your outstanding balance of: 1 trillion credits." The PDA told him again.

He cursed under his breath. Of course, he could survive a SeaDragon, escape a Mesmer, even save an entire planet's ecosystem, but as soon as he was back in Alterra space, he was just another commodity. He was starting to wish he'd just stayed on 4546B...

Rylie leaned back in his chair, sighing as he stared down at the planet from the Neptune rocket. There had been more than a trillion credit's worth of diamonds and lithium down there. He wish he had brought them, he always had so little storage on the planet, but he could have spared a few. He even knew where to get them. The island had been a great source of materials.

Instead he was stuck in this stupid rocket with no way out.

Great.

He sighed and picked up his PDA from the table and went into his downloads. He'd listen to them all before a thousand times. It was quite morbid, perhaps, to listen to his dead coworkers last messages. But he had more choices than them if he wanted to hear another's voice.

_I thought it might get claustrophobic, living underwater. Father feels it is. He'd tell me it was childish, but I stare out the window and sometimes I think how lucky I am to see this world up close."_

Rylie closed his eyes, listening as the sound of Bart Torgal's voice drifted out of the speakers on his PDA.

_"Back on the island I wouldn't have believed the creatures that live down here. The fish─they glow! There's one that's 90% eyeball. Snakes twice the length of a habitat compartment."_

He had sounded so hopeful back then, fascinated with the world and all it's creatures. Rylie couldn't blame him. The oceans had been beautiful at times. 

_"Certainly it's not all friendly. Most of the plant life is toxic─I learned that the hard way─but I've managed to coax some marble melons into growing indoors, and when they don't cover our dietary needs, well... we eat the fish themselves. It's a bit gross, but it's nothing they wouldn't do"_

They had survived, but they hadn't made it. No one had. Except him. It was by luck he had made it here, luck and a good scanner. 

For a moment, Rylie wondered what would have happened if Bart had survived, if he had somehow lived long enough to meet Rylie after the Aurora exploded. What would it have been like, he wondered, to go through that all with someone there? Would making the P.R.A.W.N suit have been any easier? Would piloting the Cyclops have been?

Would he have been able to hear the Sea Emperor?

As Bart's log ended, Rylie started up another entry from the Degasi crew. He sat and listened to them, wondering what it would have been like with each as he had so many times in the past. If he had been able to save any of the crew from the life pods, or even the wreckage. How big would the base have to be to accommodate all of them? Could they gather up all the needed supplies? He explored these familiar hypotheticals quietly.

_"There was nothing anyone could have done to avoid crashing here, but I was right to order the detour. If we get off this planet they'll be talking about the Torgal share price on the other side of the Federation."_

Paul Torgal's voice brought Rylie's train of thought to a stop. It was odd that they had ended up on the same planet as the Degasi. It had been just a slingshot maneuver, or so he had been told. Why had it been 4546B specifically? There were a few other planets that could have worked...couldn't it.

Maybe the files he had on the Aurora could help.

He dug through file after file, going through topics on colonies, crew logs, even relationship contract dealings. He hadn't read these fully, not all the way through. Sure he scanned through them when he'd fist got them but there had been other things on his mind. Mainly fixing the Aurora so that the whole area didn't go to pieces.

And then he found it.

Oh.

He felt like he should be angry at Alterra, lying to all their crew members and ending up killing them in the process. He should be a little outraged at all his friend's deaths being for nothing. He would have been, if he had read this months ago on the Aurora.

But now he was going to use this to his advantage.

Rylie reopened his request form.

_I have information on Paul Torgal as well as the rest of the crew of the Degasi._

He hit send and put down his PDA to wait.

He didn't have to wait long.

"Rylie Robinson."

A voice, a real human voice he recognized came through his speaker. He grinned down at his screen. He had their attention now.

"Prepare to dock, we're bringing you home."

The rocket began a predetermined course, probably for the next landing pad, as it spun closer to the planet. Excitement welled up in his stomach. After months of just oceans, fish, and cryptic messages, he finally wasn't alone anymore.

Finally.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy!


End file.
